Both feeds are going headphone out. I am considering a DAC, but first have to buy an OTG cable for my DAP.
Lately I have bought an amp, two different cables, an extra set of tubes and a new “sound station”.
I have the OTG cable in my Amazon.ca cart, but I am holding off as it is $80.00. I am spending like I actually have a job.
Shane D
I use every amp and dac on my desk daily.
How? And more importantly why?
For making videos.
Shane D
How? I plug in to an amp and unplug from an amp and plug into another amp 
Why? You answered that question. I listen on various amps and dacs with the headphone I am currently working on a review. Or I just play music and choose a headphone to use.
Did you get any hum using a balanced cable?
Shane D
Inconsistent volume and tone. Single ended line out proved superior. Not hum per se.
However, I did buy one balanced cable and the vendor told me to destroy it. I cut it apart and found one ground line had been cut but left in the sheath. The resistance was very inconsistent per my multimeter. You never know unless you map and measure each line.
Wow! Was it a cheapie? I know cheap is a relative term. My balanced cable seems OK quality wise. I haven’t noticed any inconsistencies but nothing special either.
My cable cost $42.00 in 
money.
For some reason I am now anxious to buy a DAC, but part of me wonders if I should hold off and see if I keep the Loxjie.
Shane D
In my opinion, balanced output is more important for this Amp than balanced in. The power is triple to quadruple (IIRC) going from 1/4 inch to XLR to headphones.
Balanced in is still going to depend on the quality of your DAC.
I made a 2.5mm to XLR cable for my DAPs. If you have your DAP plugged into power, it will have line noise transferred to it as well sometimes. I’ve experienced this in all my DAPs I’ve used.
I haven’t heard any hum or hiss. I bought these on Amazon. Connects easily enough with the Geshelli Labs Enog2 Pro.
I have never had any kind of hum from any DAP, but they were mostly plugged straight into headphones.
In the last year and a half I have plugged my DAPS directly into two amps (iFi and Burson) with no problems and no hum (3.5mm headphone output). Even 3.5mm to RCA caused no problem with the P20. Just the balanced cable. Or is it the balanced port?
I can’t hear it between songs, just when I pause the music.
Shane D
I have limited (i.e: none) experience with balanced outputs on a DAP, however, just the amount of poles on the connector strikes me as an issue if using it as a balanced line out to a an XLR input.
The reason balance cables are good for stopping interference is because they have a +, a - and a shield. This is for each side.
On the 4 pole TRRS all you have is a + and a - for each side, without a shield.
When you have issues with a ground loop in audio, caused by the equipment not sharing a common ground point, lifting the ground may help eliminate this. Basically, a ground lift is disconnecting the shield of the cable at one end, while maintaining the shield connected at the other end. Other times the ground needs to be connected to eliminate the hum.
So, with the 4 pole TRRS to 2x XLR3 connectors, you basically have a cable that has the ground permanently lifted. I am not saying that this is the cause of your hum, I am just saying that it is quite possible.
This was exactly the issue with my cable. It wasn’t cheaply made and looked great from the outside. Probably my best looking cable even! However, the vendor went from one 4 pole 2.5mm TRRS connector to two 3 pin XLR jacks. So, two of the 6 lines were not real or even actually “there.”
On top of this, the two phantom lines were just snipped and then left in the sheath in close contact with the active lines → inconsistent resistance and potentially more serious issues.
I taped the cable down on a piece of cardboard and then labeled and traced the lines to see how it was made and what went wrong.
Bottom line: Don’t mess with impossible DAC connections (4 → 6) and stick with 4 → 4 or 6 → 6. [The only exception is downgrading a TRRS headphone connector to a TRS source – no harm.]
Is a 2.5mm four pole? They have three rings.
The 4.4mm has five sections: 2 X +, 2 X - and a ground. Both XLR’s would have to share the ground?
How does the 2.5mm work?
Shane D
Here’s a lot of DIY info:
https://robrobinette.com/BalancedCable.htm
The exact pin-out varies, but the A&K format seems to dominate today.
You must be psychic! I was just on that page. They are basically the same except that 2.5mm does not have the ground that 4.4mm does. Of course I have no idea what that means.
Shane D
I got my Russian tubes via the Ukraine this week. They look IDENTICAL to the stock tubes. And I can hear no difference.
I think my “tube exploration” adventure may be coming to a close. I know a hybrid is not a true tube amp, but because my headphones are very efficient, I was led to believe that a “real” tube amp would not excel with them.
I think that with my love of clarity perhaps going tube or “tube like” never made any sense. I will continue using it until my Burson opamps come in, but I suspect that once I get back on the Burson Fun, this little fella will likely be moving on.
Shane D
I am going to reply to my own post. I mentioned that the Russian tubes made no difference. This is not totally correct. When I made this statement I was in the middle of giving my HiFiman HE4XX’s one last chance. They WILL be moving on. With my Beyer T5p.2’s the sound is better. Seems a little more open and cleaner. Of course that is going by memory as the samples were about 10 days apart. And yes, I know that for triple to quadruple the price they should sound better.
I will continue listening to this for another week, at least. Then I will try comparisons against my Burson and see how it stacks up. I don’t think it will come close to the clarity and quality of the Burson sound, but I am curious to see if it is bringing something else that I would miss if it were gone.
Anybody else have one for a few months and would like to update their opinion with or without tube changes?
Shane D
Has anyone encountered QC issues with it? I’ve gone through two of these from amazon already. The first being a fulfillment order; when I first powered it on, there was an electrical burn smell and it shorted itself out and died. The second was brand new, but the right tube burns brighter than the left (is that normal??) and one of the LED pipes stopped working during first use!!
Maybe the red version is cursed!
Both of the tubes on mine are almost equally bright, the right-most light is slightly brighter than the others. Are yours the stock tubes? Mine look a bit different with all the pins and wafer.
Mine has worked perfectly. The tube on the left burns dimmer. New Russian tubes look identical and light the same way. Maybe it’s related to the inputs that the pins go into?
Shane D
